Winter has returned in spades, and if NOAA has their way, I won't be doing any viewing for nearly a week. Good time to shim the AD10 focuser, do some homework and get an eyepiece or two to fill in some holes.

I am very impressed with the Sterlings and 7mm X-cel LX and have pretty much set aside the stock EP's that came with my scopes. I'm looking at two holes to fill: at 9-10mm and at 5mm. Unfortunately there is no such a creature as a 9mm Sterling, and the 4 and 6mm versions look like they'd be uncomfortable to use.

I'm looking more for value and image quality than large FOV. What do you have that you like in those FL ranges?

In my 12" f/5 dob, I've been mighty impressed with my 10mm GSO Superview. Sharp almost to the very edge and very contrast and crisp images. Eye relief is a little tight, compared to many modern eyepieces, but miles better than a 9mm ortho, IMO. It also barlows extremely well, so if I were you, I'd look for one and a 2x barlow. When I got my 10mm GSO, it was only 36 Euro, about $45 or so.

University Optics Orthos? Small FOV (45*), but nice sharp views. But for dobs, a plossel is about as small as I'd go for FOV. Wanna really blow your mind with those scopes for $99? Get an ES82* 11mm...........

How about the 5 and 9 X-Cel LX? If you already like the 7, they should fit in quite nicely. Almost anything else will be a lot more money, e.g. Baader Hyperion 5 and 10; 4.7, 8.8 ES82s, anything TV or Pentax. AstroTech Paradigms are similar, but only available in 5 and 8mm. Cheaper, though, and get really good reviews here on CN.

Thomas, I don't see a 10mm superview being offered, only 15 and 20mm (at Agena).

Csr, yeah, chasing a 45* FOV doesn't sound like fun. I almost got the ES 11mm 82 a couple weeks ago but chose to get the 12.5 and 25mm Sterlings, and like them alot. If I had bought the ES instead, I'd be asking a different question now.

Bdcmd, yes, going the X-cel LX/Paradigm/HD-60 route is the current fallback, especially for the 5mm slot. From what I've read, they seem to have the best price/performance in that FL. The 9-10mm slot is less clear, but less urgent... I have the stock Orion 10mm and GSO 9mm EP's (the latter is the better of the two), so at least I have something to use until that choice becomes clear.

Another thought I've had: my hunch is the 20mm Sterling won't get used as much as the other three. Perhaps getting a barlow to use with it would put it to more frequent use and cover the 10mm base. And... give me a barlow to experiment with for primary mirror alignment with the laser.

So the question is coming down to: is there an EP out there that can challenge price/performance-wise the 5mm X-cel LX/Paradigm/HD-60 in an F/4.9 dob? I haven't been able to identify one.

There probably is not! These three lines, IMO, have set a new standard. I kind of view them as the "new" Plossl -- inexpensive to produce, excellent performance, relatively small size, and then they depart from the Plossl by doing all this with more AFOV and very much more comfortable eye relief. I hope the optical designs represented by these three evolve to more and more refined levels of perfection and that we eventually see these under a large variety of brands like Plossls are so we have a rich variety of housing styles and mechanicals to suite everyone's preferences.